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Maine Revenue Services recently released its reports for the third quarter of 2014 – Maine’s prime tourism season. The numbers show a big surge in hotel spending in the City of Portland this summer: As you may remember, downtown Portland gained three big hotels over the winter and spring: the renovated Westin Harborview (formerly the Eastland), which re-opened in December 2013, plus the Courtyard Portland Downtown/Waterfront and the Hyatt Place […]

In case you missed it, my colleague Jennifer van Allen had an in-depth package of stories about Maine’s construction sector in the past weekend’s Maine Sunday Telegram. The short version: residential construction is beginning to pick up again after the recession, but construction firms aren’t hiring and employment in this sector remains stuck in a rut. The stories focused on southern Maine – specifically, Cumberland, York, Androscoggin and Sagadahoc counties. […]

Yesterday we posted an interactive map of Maine’s recent population changes, from 2010 to 2013, based on estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. This was one of those data sets with clear patterns that really leap out at you: the towns of northern and central Maine are bleeding population, while towns in Cumberland and York Counties – especially the suburbs of Portland (and, to a lesser extent, […]

Did you notice a tickling feeling in your lungs during the hot weather last Saturday, or earlier this week? You wouldn’t be alone — Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection has been issuing a string of “moderate” air pollution forecasts recently, and warning “sensitive people” to limit outdoor exercise and exertion. Forecast for Portland, ME: Jul 13 Moderate (Yellow) — Portland MaineDEP (@MEair_Portland) July 12, 2014 If you take the long […]

Over the holiday weekend, a Kickstarter campaign for “making potato salad” racked up thousands of dollars in contributions — far exceeding its initial $10 fundraising goal. This is basically a more absurdist version of the “million dollar homepage” from 2005: an internet investment opportunity that’s overtly and unapologetically pointless, and nevertheless making money hand over fist. As of Tuesday afternoon, it’s raised $51,627 in pledges — enough to fund stretch […]

We’ve heard a lot about America’s widening income gap in the past few years, and we’ve also heard a lot about partisan gridlock in Congress. If you look at the data, these problems are real, and getting worse — but a surprising investigation from the New York Federal Reserve Bank suggests that the problems also appear to be correlated. In a new post on the New York Federal Reserve Bank’s […]

Yesterday at the Maine Real Estate and Development Association’s spring conference in Portland, Alan Hall, a pro-business advocate from Utah offered his advice for Maine’s business leaders to improve the business climate here. Staff writer Jessica Hall included this quote in her report from the event: “Don’t fight each other. Go beyond politics. The time to make the changes is now. You probably need to take some drastic measures to […]

Here’s a fascinating chart for Earth Day, by way of the environmental organization Earth Policy Institute. The takeaway: more than 12 million Americans now live in jurisdictions where plastic bags at grocery stores are either banned or taxed. Even more cities – including Portland, Maine – are looking into similar policies. The trend might have started in counterculture enclaves like San Francisco, but it’s quickly catching on in other big […]

Randall Munroe, the artist behind the webcomic xkcd and former NASA roboticist, has given us the best explainer I’ve seen yet on Heartbleed: Most websites have patched the bug so that servers won’t spill out secret information any longer. To check the status of your online banking site, or webmail site, or any other website that you entrust with sensitive information, visit filippo.io/Heartbleed. Then change your passwords.

Last week, Kennebec Journal reporter Paul Koenig covered a brewing debate between Central Maine Power and solar power advocates. CMP, which owns and maintains the lines that deliver electricity in southern and central Maine, wants to levy a new fee against customers who own solar panels. They also want to shift more of its charges to fixed monthly fees, and away from variable fees that are proportional to how much […]